First crocea clam - first day - a problem already

[johns]

I got my first crocea clam last night - about 2.5". I buried a flat rock in the sand slightly below it and placed it on top. Seemed fine for a while. Mantle was coming out and it was responsive. It was sort of coughing a little (trying to move?) every minute or so. When I checked it again an hour or so later it had tipped over, and my couple cleaner shrimp were all over it - underneath where the foot is supposed to be, and trying to dig into the mantle as well.

When I set the clam back up again, I also noticed a very small bristle worm crawling on the shell. I caught the cleaner shrimps and stuck them in the refugium. The worm disappeared.

Anyway, ever since that incident the clam has shut itself completley closed. It was like that the rest of the night and still that way when I checked this morning (before lights came on).

Is it going to open again, or am I going to have a problem here.

 

[ExoticWonders]

well a little more info is needed here. what are your tank params? what size tank? lighting? how did you aclimate? Flow?

One thing to know is that shrimp are always the first to know when something is wrong. They may have been cleaning it. When ever i get a new clam the first thing that i do is look at the foot. If it looks torn or frayed in any fashion i always put the clam about 1/3 of the way down into the sand. Keeps things away from the area and allows the clam to attach the rock I put under it.

Just my 2 cents, others will have theirs.

Mario

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Put it up high on the rock structure. Croceas are not supposed to be in the sand.

 

[johns]

Bad News. Got home from work and it's still closed. Just like it was last night after the shrimps were bugging it. Weir because before it 'fell over' and the shrimps were torturing it, it was looking perfectly fine, with the mantle coming out and it was responsive. it was even looking fine while it was in the bag.

What should I do? Should I really move it up high right away? Can that coax it to come out? Should I remove it from the sand? I thought it needed to acclimate to my light which I believe is quite a bit more intense than the LFS lighting it was under.

That brsitle worm I saw is worrying me too. Could it have gotten inside of the clam?

To answer some of your other questions:

75G tank, lighting is 2x250w HQI plus 2x54w supplemental T5. Flow amounts to approx 3000GPH, none is directed right at the clam. I aclimated by adding ~ half cup every 15 minutes to fill the bag over the course of 3 hours.

Tank params:
Temp 79-80
pH 8.2-8.3
Ca 400
Alk 9.6dKH
NO2 0.05-0.1
NO3 0.5-1.0

 

[cristhiam]

I'll let him be and see if it opens, moving it a lot might stress him more. I have a maxima for about 3 1/2 months now (about 2 - 2 1/2") and what I did is put a half shell under him and he attached to it if a few days, I put some rubble around him so he won't go on his side. You can see a picture in my gallery. What is your CA and Alk?

 

[mbbuna]

id keep him where it is for now also intill it grabs on to the rock under it.the bristle worm is doing the same thing that the shrimp were.sounds like somthing else is going on with the clam i wouldnt move it inless u realy need to,feed a little extra phyto to ur tankand maybe cut the top off of a 2 litter bottle (clear without the cap and put it over the clam to keep the shrimp away

 

[johns]

Dont need to worry about the shrimp for the time being. They are in the fuge for now.

 

[snookcatcher]

i have a new crocea also, he came on a ring of pvc and his foot has been attached to that, are croceas really no supposed to be in the sand? why and how do i get him to unattach from the pvc and to a rock i guess?(my liverock)

 

[johns]

Does this mean death?

Does this mean death?

Update:

The clam opened its shell up a bit today. But the mantle is still pretty much pulled in. I dont know if this is what they call 'gaping' or what? It doesn't look so great.

Does this mean death? I have to say there is a little stink to the water tonight. Coincidence? I dont know, but dont know how much longer I should chance it.

 

[ub32965]

Sorry to say this but your clam is done for. My clam shell split and next fews it was dead.

 

[johns]

Yeah. I think the shell is sort of splitting a bit.

Should I just flush it now, or wait a little longer. I'm tempted to pick it up to give it a whiff. I think something smells off.

 

[mbbuna]

Johns id have to agree i dont think urclam will make it;
and Snook croceas live up in the rocks, u can take a razer and cut the threads from the pvc(cut on the pvc NOT NEAR THE CLAM)

 

[mad mechanic reefer]

Im sorry to say this but once a Crocea pulls into its shell like this I have never seen it recover again . The thing that I cant understand is it seems to happen on larger Croceas (4 inches +) which are kept under strong lighting so mabee they need phyto additions unlike larger Maximas which seem to do fine under good lighting alone . Just my observations . HTH .

 

[johns]

Well I'm perplexed. Because the clam looked fine at the LFS (although it was there only 2 weeks). It looked fine during acclimation (mantle was starting to come out) and after taking it out of the bag. The mantle was out, maybe not all the way. It would sometimes pull back in and then come out again right away.

An hour or 2 later is when I found it toppled over and the shrimp on it. I dont really believe that the shrimp could have killed it, but I just done get it.

parameters were reasonable I believe.

 

[mbbuna]

i dont think ur shrimp killed it ,ur clam probably was on the way out when u got it ,they can look good up intill the end

 

[johns]

i dont think ur shrimp killed it ,ur clam probably was on the way out when u got it ,they can look good up intill the end

I hope that is the case, because I really want to keep one or two. I guess I'll try again from a different place.

 

[mbbuna]

be realy picky abouy ur clams, wait for the best one

 

[crazyfish]

Was your clam exposed to air at all?

 

[johns]

Was your clam exposed to air at all?

Literally, for about 2 seconds while I picked it out of the bag and placed it in the tank.

I heard not to expose it, but couldn't think of any other way to release it. I had it as close to the tank and did it as fast as possible.

 

[mbbuna]

exposing clams to air is not a problem, i take my clams out of the tank every week or 2 to inspect them and have never had a problem, but its good to burp them when u put them back(rock them wither mantle up to let the air out)